I'm in the process of rebuilding my front forks, and I have a couple of questions I hope someone has a answer for.

following the instructions in the how to Articles for the forks, first I discovered the cap on the top of the forks looks like this with no air valve. I did not have a 17MM allen wrench, but I found one at the local Auto Zone.

How do I measure the oil level with out the opening in the cap? Using the dip stick method

the other question has to do with the front tire. the tire is an E3 I had installed in 2011.
The date code is 0311, but I found cracking around both sides next to the rim. I'm going to replace the tire.

with the tire off the bike do I remove the rotors before I bring it to the Honda dealer? I know a lot of you replace your on tires how do you do it? I have done tires on the tractor, and lawn mower with a rubber mallet and a couple of large screwdrivers. but never anything where it's on the road at high speeds with my life at stake.

jdavidsmit wrote:I'm in the process of rebuilding my front forks, and I have a couple of questions I hope someone has a answer for.

following the instructions in the how to Articles for the forks, first I discovered the cap on the top of the forks looks like this with no air valve. I did not have a 17MM allen wrench, but I found one at the local Auto Zone.

How do I measure the oil level with out the opening in the cap? Using the dip stick method

You can't. First off, do not attempt to remove your fork caps with that allen wrench. The caps are under tremendous pressure from the fork springs inside. If you simply unscrew them using that wrench, once you get to the last one or two threads, it will tear the threads out and launch the cap across the room, possibly injuring you in the process. That's why you see me using the Honda fork tool to remove the caps in the article:

It puts downward pressure on the cap as it is unscrewed, to take the load off the cap threads, and prevent it from launching out from the fork when it does get released. Other people have built similar tools with pieces of wood clamped together with threaded rod. A couple of people have done it by getting up on top of the bike and putting their full weight down on the tool they are using to remove the cap - but I certainly wouldn't try it.

Once you have the cap removed, you could replace it with the cap from a GL1500 with a schraeder valve like this:

You can then unscrew the schraeder valve, and oil level can be checked (and even changed!) without removing the fork cap:

Some people have drilled and tapped their existing fork caps and installed a schraeder valve themselves. That's another option.

jdavidsmit wrote:the other question has to do with the front tire. the tire is an E3 I had installed in 2011.
The date code is 0311, but I found cracking around both sides next to the rim. I'm going to replace the tire.

with the tire off the bike do I remove the rotors before I bring it to the Honda dealer? I know a lot of you replace your on tires how do you do it? I have done tires on the tractor, and lawn mower with a rubber mallet and a couple of large screwdrivers. but never anything where it's on the road at high speeds with my life at stake.

I too would replace those tires. I really don't like the look of those cracks, and particularly their location. It appears that perhaps the tires were run low on pressure at some point?

First off, do not attempt to remove your tire with screwdrivers. Your rims are soft aluminum, you will gouge the bead seat and your wheels will never hold air again.

Keep in mind, this is a LOT of hard work to do. When I did this, I first removed my brake rotors to prevent damage. If I were to take my wheel to someone to have them change the tire, I'd probably do the same. Now I use a friend's tire changing machine, which can change tires with the brake rotors installed, and because I'm doing it myself, I leave the rotors in place.

If you do remove the rotors, make sure you torque the fasteners correctly when reinstalling. You really don't want a rotor to come loose at high speed.

Thanks, I have decided I'm not going to try it myself and the Honda Dealer has given me a fair deal on tire and mounting.

I have a couple of new questions,.
the two pinch clamps on the top loosen right up and the right side lower bolts did also. but I cannot get the top one on the left to loosen. the only 8mm allen I have is the type like a bit using an adapter to attaché it to a 1/4" breaker bar. any way I just broke my 1/4 breaker bar. trying to loosen it. so I have sprayed it with Yeal and now a trip back to town to purchase a 8mm allen wrench. not really a question as much a statement. I have the right one out.

both of the lower half of the forks just slid all the way down when I drained the oil out. is this normal?

Thanks for the help Mike
Update on my project. first off the correct tools make a world of difference. pick up a set of metric allen wrenches and the bolt came right out, so I now have both forks out and ready to be rebuilt. built my on spring removal tool, but that is tomorrows project.

Or you can drill and tap the fork cap and use a button head hex head bolt instead of going through all that expense of the new fork caps.
I also used a 17mm bolt and a couple of 17 mm nuts with some JB Weld to fuse the nuts to back off/tighten the fork caps and made my own jig to install the caps

tis morning after the Memorial Day service I stopped at the local hardware store and picked up a new tap and a couple of bolts, for the fork caps, drilled and tapped them out. the forks are reassembled and are on the bike. The oil is changed, the spark plugs are changed, the antifreeze is changed, all the front plastic is back on. Going to Nashville in the morning for the tire to be mounted. Then back on the road.
Any one know the torque for the front rotors? I took them off so they will not be damaged by the tire change.

Today is a great day for riding here in middle Tennessee and while I was working I had the garage doors up, listening to all the bikes going past the house. We get a lot of bike traffic by the house most weekends and today was no exception. I have the Wing facing the street and while I was cleaning up I noticed the corners of the headlight on the wing looked a little droopy like she wanted to be out and running. sort of reminded me of a little quarter horse I had growing up, all she wanted to do was run, any time I was in the barn and did not take her out she got the hand dog look.